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Friday, March 03, 2017

Team Epic, Let's Roll Out!

Team Epic: Why I Love Epic Fantasy!

Erica Cameron - Island of Exiles
(The Ryogan Chronicles, #1):

Why do I love epic fantasy? It's a blank
slate. We can erase all of our preconceived notions of society and law and even
science, throwing all of that over the side of a cliff. Epic fantasy lets us
push humanity well past the breaking point with ever more impossible landscapes
and situations. It lets us see what we could be if only we let ourselves get
there. Plus, epic fantasy is, well, epic!

Book Description:

In Khya’s world, every breath is a battle. On
the isolated desert island of Shiara, dying young is inevitable. The clan comes
before self, and protecting her home means Khya is a warrior above all else.

But when following the clan and obeying their
leaders could cost her brother his life, Khya’s home becomes a deadly trap. The
only person who can help is Tessen, her lifelong rival and the boy who
challenges her at every turn. The council she hoped to join has betrayed her,
and their secrets, hundreds of years deep, reach around a world she’s never
seen.

To save her brother’s life and her island home,
her only choice is to trust Tessen, turn against her clan, and go on the run—a
betrayal and a death sentence.

When I read and write, it’s because I want to
escape and nothing gets you farther from your troubles than the distant shores
of entirely new worlds. Epic fantasy invites you onto its tropical beaches,
into its lush jungles and through its exotic cityscapes, shaking out its
uncharted map for you to explore. Every page brims with fantastic characters
questing, battling men and extraordinary beasts alike with magic flowing from
nimble fingertips and daring sword fights. The allure of entirely new cultures,
the epic stakes, swoon-worthy romances, and the flowing dresses of epic fantasy
will always have my heart.

Book Description:

After seven grueling years of captivity in the
Garden—a burlesque troupe of slave girls—sixteen-year-old Rose finds an
opportunity to escape during a performance for the emperor. But the hostage she
randomly chose from the crowd to aid her isn't one of the emperor's men—not
anymore. He's the former heir to the throne, who is now leading a rebellion
against it.

Rayce is a wanted man and dangerously
charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his
smile promises. But he assumes Rose's attempt to take him hostage is part of a
plot to crush the rebellion, so he takes her as his hostage. Now Rose must prove where her loyalties lie, and she
offers Rayce a deal—if he helps her rescue the other girls, she'll tell him all
the Garden's secrets.

Except the one secret she's kept for seven
years that she'll to take to her grave if she must.

Don’t get me wrong -- #TeamUrban is great. I
love time jumpers and magicians running around a book. They make you blink and
question what you saw. But I prefer life in a funhouse mirror. Give me a goblin
market. Give me a warrior queen with immortal blood. I want the snow queen’s
glass shard to be embedded in my eye. I want to completely escape the bounds of
reality -- not be shackled by them. I don't want to just question my
perceptions -- I want to know I’m not
in Kansas any longer.

Book Description:

Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden
Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the
kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to
save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his
own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes
her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born
bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In
Russia, there's been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.

While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to
Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her
sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears…and discovering the
secrets contained in the Fox sisters' blood before they wind up dead is just
the beginning.

First for the endlessly inventive magic.
Second for the fascinating new worlds to explore. Third for the fantastic
creatures that dwell there: dragons, gargoyles, demi-gods and phoenixes are
just a few of the ones I've used.

Epic fantasy gives a writer a bigger canvas to
paint. Instead of a city, a country or even worlds. Wars. Heroes. Villains.
Destinies. Everything is bigger is epic fantasy. The stakes are higher, instead
of a single group, the fate of a world can hang in the balance.

Book Description:

The
Mirror Worlds are but dull reflections of the True World, where magic and
technology blend together…

On
the True World, Belinda Loring has known from childhood that she must Bond with
the son of another noble First Family. Uniting the families ensures hers will
hold onto its powerful position, and so she’s always pushed down the tender
feelings she has for her best friend—gorgeous, steadfast Demian, who isn’t
noble.

But
when the ceremonial magic goes disastrously wrong, Belinda becomes a national
disgrace. Scorned as Broken, she turns to Demian for help getting revenge on
the man who ruined her: the radical Malachi.

But
the seeds of Malachi’s murderous plans lie buried in Belinda’s past, in the
dark days of her kidnapping—a period of which she has no memory. And Demian may
hold the key to recovering all that she’s lost—and saving the worlds.

After
a raging fire consumes her town and kills her parents, Maggie Davis is on her
own to protect her younger sister and survive best she can in the Colorado town
of Burning Mesa. In Maggie’s world, the bones of long-extinct magical creatures
such as dragons and sirens are mined and traded for their residual magical
elements, and harnessing these relics’ powers allows the user to wield fire,
turn invisible, or heal even the worst of injuries.

Working
in a local saloon, Maggie befriends the spirited showgirl Adelaide and falls
for the roguish cowboy Landon. But when she proves to have a particular skill
at harnessing the relics’ powers, Maggie is whisked away to the glamorous
hacienda of Álvar Castilla, the wealthy young relic baron who runs Burning
Mesa. Though his intentions aren’t always clear, Álvar trains Maggie in the
world of relic magic. But when the mysterious fires reappear in their
neighboring towns, Maggie must discover who is channeling relic magic for evil
before it’s too late.

Relic
is a thrilling adventure set in a wholly unique world, and a spell-binding
story of love, trust, and the power of good.

Epic Fantasy is an escape from the “real
world” and takes you to other lands, places you can only dream of, which is why
I love it so much. And there’s so much
more opportunity to really explore new creatures and characters within these
worlds. I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of stepping through a closet and
finding a cool fantasy world? LOL.

I’m also a big fan of the epic battles (think Lord of the Rings or Throne of Glass). Girl with a
sword=Awesome.

Book Description:

Fresh off a break-up with her boyfriend,
Kadie’s glad to be home from college for Thanksgiving. All she needs is a
rebound guy, a box of chocolates, and some girl time with her best friend,
Salome. Problem is, Salome isn’t returning her calls, and her family won’t say
where she is. Feeling sorry for herself, Kadie ends up at Club Blade, a place
filled with pumping music, dangerous guys, and promises of a good time.
However, when midnight strikes, Kadie’s fun turns into a nightmare as she’s
ripped from the human world into Faerie by a vengeful Winter Prince named
Etienne. For the first time in her life, she realizes the monsters Salome
always spoke of are real, and they’ll stop at nothing to destroy her friend.

Salome thought the winter curse was behind
her. But winter has left its mark. Not just on her, but on the whole summer
court. The Kingdom of Summer is falling apart, and Nevin is hanging onto his
throne by a thread. With war on his doorstep, he has no choice but to send
Gareth into enemy territory, which means Salome will be left alone—vulnerable
in a world she doesn’t understand. A place where beauty is deadly and humans
are pawns in the macabre games the Fae play. Both Kadie and Salome will have to
call on all their strength to survive in a world where humans aren’t meant to
be. With death and enemies all around them, it’ll be a miracle if they can
survive.

While trying to save her brother from a
witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a
portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre,
ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and
taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s
caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac,
who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get
out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and
with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm
is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena
will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back…